Electrical conduit systems are required in order to safely provide electrical power to industry, homes, commercial buildings and the like. These conduit systems often include long runs of rigid electrical conduit with frequent changes in direction, such as 90° turns. Conduit bodies are typically installed in the conduit systems at various locations, both to provide access to the wires and to route the wires along the conduit path. Often, the change of direction in the conduit is accomplished in the conduit body.
Conventional conduit bodies are generally elongate having longitudinal side walls defining an open ended chamber.
A removable cover may be provided to close the open end after installation. However, during the post-installation inspection stage, the cover must remain in an open position, permitting inspection of the conduit body interior. Once the inspection is complete, the conduit can be fully closed.
Some traditional conduits have a pair of holes on the body of the conduit at the open end for receiving a pair of screws extending through the cover. Thus, a user can simply screw in one side of the cover, allowing the cover to pivot and keep the conduit body open. This allows the conduit body and cover to remain partially attached, while still allowing inspection of and access to the interior. Thereafter, the other screw may be engaged so as to fully close the conduit.
However, many existing conduit bodies, in particular Form 7 conduit bodies, lack screw holes, and rely upon a cover having a pair of “L-shaped” clips on the underside of the cover body for attachment to an undercut lip area at the ends of the open side of the conduit body. Further, Form 7 conduit bodies have extensive undercuts only at opposite ends of the opening, which makes attachment difficult. It is difficult, if not impossible to partially attach the cover to this conduit body to provide access to the interior, and thus the cover must be kept separate from the conduit body until it is ready for final attachment. The cover is usually haphazardly thrown into a box with other covers and conduit bodies of varying sizes. When the user wishes to attach the cover to the installed conduit body, such as after inspection, the user may have great difficulty finding the proper cover for the conduit body installed. This is a time-consuming process that can be avoided by the invention described herein. Sometimes, the user may tape the cover to the conduit before final attachment, which not only fails to effectively hold the cover thereto, but also requires messy cleanup and is a waste of time and materials.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a cover for a conduit body which allows for the inspection of the wires within the body without fully disengaging the cover, and which overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art.